


“That’s like one dog-minute, right?”

by Circeancity



Category: Hunter X Hunter
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, First Kiss, Implied/Referenced Underage Drinking, M/M, Miscommunication, Seven Minutes In Heaven Game
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-06
Updated: 2019-04-06
Packaged: 2020-01-05 19:04:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,870
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18372221
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Circeancity/pseuds/Circeancity
Summary: Kite gets roped into a game he doesn't want to play, with a person he doesn't want to kiss. But it's okay, because Knuckle doesn't want to kiss him either, right?





	“That’s like one dog-minute, right?”

**Author's Note:**

> Yeah, so like the tag says this is related to a larger high school au (actually it spawned my desire to make a full au for it) my friends said it was good enough to post on it's own though. The only background information you really need is that by now, Kite and Knuckle are semi-friends because they both work at a local dog shelter after school. 
> 
> There's not a trace of this ship anywhere else in the fandom, so I'm hoping to turn some people on to it. Whatever happened to crack shipping anyway?

9:28pm —  A friend of a friend _of_ a friend’s house  
  
    Kite had seen enough movies to know how highschool parties worked. You danced to music you didn’t really like, you drank whatever was available from those little red cups, you talked and you joked and you did unspeakable things in the host’s parents’ bedroom. He was pretty sure that they nailed it down to a science in the 80’s. And, knowing all of this, he liked to think he was doing pretty good at this whole party thing. He was hanging out at the edge of the living room, surveying the scene around him like one would the savannah. Free from adult supervision, everyone was within their natural habitat, free to be as wild as they wanted— Everyone worth watching anyway.

    A tug on his arm made him freeze up. Kite whipped around to look at whoever it was and found a complete stranger who was as startled as he was. “Hey,” she was quiet, but she seemed to recognize him. After another moment of awkward silence she pointed to herself with her free hand, “Palm?” she said, as if she was unsure of her own name.

    “Oh!” he felt stupid, but in comparison to the way she usually looked it was like she’d become a different person overnight. Kite shot her an apologetic grin “Sorry, not used to seeing you in makeup I guess. What’s up?” Truth be told he’d rather she was a complete stranger, but if she needed help he couldn’t make himself refuse.

    Instead of answering, she started dragging him off to another room. Hesitantly, he allowed her, careful not to spill his drink as they pushed past other guests. “We need one more guy to make it even” She pulled his arm harder, black painted nails digging into his skin “Hurry up before they start without me.”

    “Hey, hey slow down! What’s starting?” In lieu of an answer, he was pushed towards a group of teens sitting in a circle.

    Among the faces he could name were Knuckle, Shoot (who looked about ready to gnaw his good arm off to escape), Pitou, Machi, and a very drunk Shizuku that Machi was definitely just here to watch over. A girl he didn’t know was writing something down on a notepad. “Uhhhh Kyle, right?” She asked, gesturing to him with her pen.

    “Kite.”

    “O-kay,” she scribbled his name down before tearing out the page, folding it a few times, and ripping it along the creases.

    Kite sat down between Palm and a guy he thought might have been in his math class “Is anyone gonna tell me what this is?” He asked as the girl put the paper slips into a bowl

    “Seven minutes in heaven.” She answered, tossing a flirtatious wink to someone else in the circle. Kite glared at Palm, which she loudly ignored. Placing the bowl in the center of the circle, the girl continued, “Okay, so let’s haaaaaave Knuckle go first!”

   “Eh? Why?” he crossed his arms. Did _anyone_ want to play?

   “'Cause.”

   Apparently, Knuckle didn’t object that much, because that was all the reason it took for him to swipe a name off the top. The group was quiet, waiting for him to read the name. He rubbed the back on his neck with a sigh. “Okay, whatever.” Instead of reading the note, he dropped it on the ground and stood up. Kite couldn’t parse the name in the swirly handwriting. “Aight. Kite, c’mon.”

   Oh. He snatched the paper up from where it fell, as if he wasn’t sure Knuckle read it right. Relief bloomed in his chest as he realized this meant his name would probably be taken out and he could go back to people-watching without anything too uncomfortable happening. Seven minutes wasn’t long enough for anything raunchy, but with close quarters and alcohol involved, he wouldn’t be surprised if people got ideas.

   As he followed behind Knuckle he realized the other boy was walking hunched over, his hands shoved in his pockets like he was trying to make a show of being embarrassed. _Real mature,_ Kite thought, nudging past him through the open closet door. “I’ll set a timer,” he said, taking out his phone to do just that, “I’m not gonna make this any longer than it has to be.” Knuckle stayed silent as someone shut the door behind them. The lock clicking into place to muffled giggling on the other side.

9:30 pm - A friend of a friend of a friend’s closet.

   “Even if you’d rather not be in here with a guy,” Kite shoved some coats to the side, allowing them enough room to not be pressed into eachother, “I am glad to be in here with you.”

   Knuckle’s face softened, a rare sight when they weren’t working at the animal shelter “Why’s that?”

   “I didn’t want to kiss anyone.” Kite shrugged. Knuckle sighed as he slid down to sit against the wall.

   “Yeah that’d’ve sucked.” he shot back.

9:31 pm.

   The silence between them stretched on uncomfortably, magnified by the music echoing from a few rooms away. “This doesn’t seem like your kind of thing.” Kite said, breaking it so suddenly that Knuckle seemed startled.

   “It’s uh... it’s not. I only agreed to play ‘cause I’m tryin’ to set Shoot up with someone.”

   “Hm? Which one?” If the universe liked Kite, he would say Pitou— that would get them off of Kite’s back for at least a little while.

   Knuckle shrugged, “Anyone really. Figured gettin’ some would give the guy like, _some_ confidence.”

   That got a laugh out of him, “I think confidence is a lost cause. He can’t—”

   “Hey watch yourself fool, that’s my best friend you’re talking about!” He shot back, though for once he didn’t look as aggressive as he sounded. “What’s your excuse though? For the uh, the game.” he asked, nodding towards the door.

   Kite shuffled where he stood, “Palm grabbed me. She didn’t even tell me what for, I just went along with it.”

   “You just can’t refuse a pretty face.” the other boy teased.

   “Guess not.” Kite rolled his eyes.

9:32 pm.

   Kite finally found a comfortable way to share their space, sitting across from Knuckle with his knees tucked under his chin. He wished they would have turned the lights out though. There was nowhere comfortable for him to look. He could take out his phone but that felt like cheating— or at least it felt like something Knuckle would call cheating. (How could he cheat if this wasn’t a game where you could win?)

   Just before their third minute was up, Knuckle looked him dead in the eye. His head tilted curiously, like when a dog is starting to understand a new trick. “Ever been kissed before?”

9:33 pm.

   “Kind of. Why’d you ask?”

   “How do you ‘kind of’ kiss someone, fool?”

   Kite wished he could sink back farther into the wall, “I mean like I guess it depends on what you mean by ‘being kissed’—”  

   “I only means one thing!”

   “Stop being so aggressive, why does this matter?”

   “Because when you ask a yes-or-no question, you expect a yes-or-no answer.”

   “No, why does it matter whether I’ve _kissed_ someone or not?”

   “Because!” Knuckle threw his hands out as he yelled, banging his elbow against the wall. The barest twitch in his face was the only sign that he felt it. There was hardly enough room for the two to exist in there, let alone for him to get riled up like this. And over what? “You joined a game where the whole point is to make out! Is this really how you want to waste your first kiss?”

   Kite found himself unable to respond, stuck between all of the things wrong with that sentence and where to correct them. He never _said_ this would be his first kiss— it was true, but he never said it. He had already told Knuckle why he joined—  he hadn’t known, and once he did he was already in the drawing. Why did it even matter to Knuckle— wasn’t he here to help out Shoot? What does that have to do with _Kite_? But what he wanted most to say, was

9:34 pm.

   “This is so stupid!” he whisper-yelled (as if the whole house hadn’t already heard half of their argument). “What are you even trying to say anymore? You’ve been pissed ever since we got picked and I’m not letting you take it out on me. So what if I haven’t kissed anyone before, have you?”

   Knuckle looked away, embarrassment coloring his cheeks, “No.”

   “And here you are, also about to waste it.” Kite sighed, running a hand through his hair, “So what are you so mad about? That you’re in here with me? You _can_ just go again you know.” his eyes narrowed, as if he was trying to read the answer before Knuckle could give it to him.

   He turned back to Kite, only to be paralyzed by the other boy’s intense gaze. Suddenly the floor was very interesting. “Look, I’m not mad that you’re here, okay? That’s not a fucking problem so you can stop acting like it is.”

   “Then what _is_ the problem?”

   Knuckle groaned. He leaned back into the wall a little too hard, banging his head against it just loud enough that Kite was sure people were looking now.  “Fine, whatever, I’ll tell you what’s wrong.” he began as he stood, “But don’t you get mad about it when you basically cornered me into this.”

9:35 pm.

  “What does—whoa!” Suddenly, Kite was pulled up by his shirt collar.

   He wasn’t intimidated by Knuckle. He hadn’t been for a while. And that, combined with the fact that they were almost nose-to-nose in a closet that was getting warmer by the minute made what Kite was so sure was supposed to be an intimidating gesture... almost intimate.

   And then Knuckle kissed him.

   Kite didn’t return it— more out of shock than anything— but he didn’t push away either. It was like time had slowed down, narrowing his focus to the two of them and the faint bass of the music. God, he was an idiot.  Knuckle hadn’t been subtle, he was terrible at that. The past five minutes had played out like a scene from a trashy romance flick, and Kite was the oblivious love interest.

   When he pulled away, Knuckle gave Kite a look that the other boy would have been sure he knew the meaning of not one minute ago, but now wasn’t so sure. And then he shoved him to the ground.

   Kite watched, semi-dazed, as Knuckle opened the closet door (“Did we forget to lock that?” someone asked) and left. He couldn’t see his face, but knew from the confused looks Knuckle got that he was blushing. The group from before were watching them both, whispering among one another. Kite realized about then that he should probably stand up.

   As he watched his friend disappear into the throng of dancing teenagers a knot formed in his stomach. They had work at the shelter tomorrow. It was gonna be a long, awkward shift.

**Author's Note:**

> It's been a while since I've written something lighthearted, and I've never done a highschool au so comments and criticism are appreciated ^^


End file.
